Bet the Farm, by Beth Hoffman

Staff pick by Jeremy Hall

What better way to kick off the Avoca Public Library's staff picks and our summer reading theme of Read, Renew, Repeat, than with a book by an Iowa farmer who's looking to find ways to farm sustainably? Beth Hoffman isn't a native Iowan, nor did she grow up on a farm. She's a journalist and professor by trade who has spent most of her life living in large cities. So when she moves to her husband's family farm in south central Iowa to raise grass-fed beef, she chronicals their struggles to care for the land, their finances, and themselves, in ways that question and reimagine an agricultural system that has become increasingly difficult for those who are doing the work. Hoffman's narrative offers a balanced, sympathetic look at the struggles of both conventional and unconventional U.S. growers, as the generational shift and lack of land access creates tension in rural America. Although the book is well researched, Hoffman's background in journalism makes her memoir a very accessible page turner that challenges anyone's preconceptions about what it means to be a steward of the land while trying to eek out a living for themselves and their family.